Chapter 21: Working with Drawing Views
FIGURE 21.14A Broken-out Section View
If the view has no pre-drawn, pre-selected loop, then initiating the function activates the spline
sketch tool. It is not necessary to use a spline as the closed loop for this view type, but Broken-out
Section Views are traditionally created with a freehand sort of boundary, even when drawn manually.If the loop is closed in an uninterrupted workflow, then after the last spline point is drawn, joining
the spline back to itself, the Section Scope dialog box appears. This enables you to select any parts
that are not to be sectioned. It is customary to avoid sectioning shafts, screws, or other cylindrical
components. Using the Section Scope, the image on the right in Figure 21.14 would be altered to
look like the image on the right in Figure 21.15.The recommended workflow is to initiate the function from the toolbar, use the spline to create the
closed loop, and to not pre-draw a loop. This makes everything flow more smoothly, and you cre-
ate the view surprisingly quickly. If you must use a sketch tool other than the spline, then you
must pre-draw it. Even if you simply change sketch tools when the Broken-out Section View auto-
matically activates the spline, because the workflow has been broken, creating the closed loop does
not automatically display the Section Scope interface.Selecting the depth
After you make the Section Scope selections, the next step is to set the depth of the cut. You can do
this in one of several ways. Broken-out Section Views are usually applied to the center of a hole if
available, or in other ways that show the view as cleanly as possible. If you know the depth of the
cut that you want to make, then you can type it in as a distance value. Of course, that raises the
question “Distance from what?” to which the answer seems to be “from the geometry in the view
that would come the farthest out of the screen toward the user.” Users most often choose the dis-
tance when it does not matter exactly how deep the cut goes or exactly where it cuts, but it gives a
relative position.